Monday, February 06, 2017

GOOD TIMES FOR THE CHURCH

After many things are said many times by someone on account
of many rumors heard and many
gossipsbelieved vis-à-vis apparent egoism lived plus seeming consummate
hatred felt, it can be said in all sincerity in one way or another and candor
that these are good times particularly for the Church in the Philippines.Bishops having more than one wife, priests
siring more than one child, Churchmen wallowing in wealth and like other rumors
and allegations by one and the same distinct personality in the seat of power
and might – all these accusations and more, give the local Church the ardent
invitation and good opportunity to look closely at the value system, moral
standing plus ministerial life of her Clergy.

It is not a secret that the vocation to observe continence
and to thus live in celibacy for a lifetime – not to mention the mandate to
obedience plus the life of prudence more concretely in terms of temporal goods –
are definitely not for anybody, much less for everybody.So it is that such a way of life and living
is neither commonly opted, much less easily lived in truth and in fact.But those relatively few individuals who make
the deliberate option to live by and die therewith remain duty-bound to observe
their commitment for life.And truth to tell, such way of many
sacrifices demands not merely good will and/or right reason but also much
prayers, many sacrifices plus a strong resolve.Conclusion:To keep their sacred
promise and to live their particular state as Clerics constitute one big continuous
challenge such that some of them lose themselves along the way precisely by
violating their clerical state of life.

So it is that the Universal Church has needed legislations and
pursuant observances not only for processing Candidates for Sainthood but also
stands in pacified possessions of the required Procedures and consonant
practices for penalizing Members of the Clergy proven to have deliberately
violated their sworn to State of Life.The truth of the matter is that the Universal Church herself quite
recently made the said Procedures shorter in length and easier to accomplish
precisely to get rid of bad Clerics.And
the Church in the Philippines being an integral part of the Universal Church
has been since then applying the pertinent procedural norms for penalizing
erring Members of the Clergy.I
conjunction with all these, the following observations come to fore:

a.It all began with
the infamous Judas who was a hypocrite – not the Church herself that is one and
holy, apostolic in mission and universal in scope.

b.It is the same
evil spirit of Judas that eventually still makes some members of the Clergy
betray the Gospel truths and/or discard their sworn to obligations.

c.It is history that
continues to witness how certain individuals are bent on fighting the Church
but they will all die and the Church will continue to live and serve.

Conclusion: Feel free to worship any “god”, to belong to any “Sect”,
to subscribe to any “religion” of one
kind or another. Feel free to criticize Churchmen, to belittle the Church
faithful, to go against Church teaching.But please, dare not challenge, fight, trample upon the Church.You lose.Sooner or later you will be six feet under the ground whereas from dust
you came and to dust you return.But
101% certain and sure, the Church remains
around.Wanna bet?

Oscar Cruz

About The Blogger

Most Reverend Oscar V. Cruz, D.D. is the Archbishop-Emeritus of Lingayen-Dagupan. He is currently the Judicial Vicar of the National Tribunal of Appeals. He is a prolific writer, having published several dozen books mostly on judicial and moral matters. His most recent book is about the Social Doctrines of the Church. He also has a blog where he posts regularly. He is an avid coin collector and dabbles in woodworking art.